Human civilization depends on our ability to manage its increasing complexity. Behaviors, processes, and decisions that in the past were tolerated by the complex adaptive system we call Earth, are now more and more showing unforeseen consequences in unexpected places.

Many of our theories about the workings of the world are hampered in their predictive power by the lack of data, and suffer garbage-in, garbage-out effects. New interconnected sensor networks, fast, and ubiquitous communications, and the parallel power of our massive software systems are the never too soon answer to this need, and promise to revolutionize the way we understand, and act upon the planet.

The data sphere we are building, developing through every traceable action of millions of people, and billions, soon trillions of devices, designs a fine-grained picture of necessary understanding, and empowers us to believe that we can indeed aim to evolve our civilization, and to move it to the next levels of complexity, and achievement of human potential.

David Orban is an entrepreneur and visionary. He is Chairman of Humanity+, Advisor of the Singularity University, a Founder of WideTag, Inc., a high technology start-up company providing the infrastructure for an open Internet of Things. David shapes the strategic vision of its technologies by developing the policies and communication steps necessary to enable constructive progress. He is further a Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Lifeboat Foundation. David cuts across the limits of deep specialization to contribute to the new renaissance. He explains, “My vision is at the crossroads of technology and society as defined by their co-evolution.” David Orban’s personal motto is, “What is the question I should be asking?” This concept is his vehicle to accelerating cycles of invention and innovation in order to build the new world ahead.